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Vancouver Island Adventure
Chapter 1 - Hiking on Vancouver Island Pete stared at the giant Amabalis Fir tree ahead of him. It was nearly fifty metres tall. Pete knew he would see many more massive trees before the day was over. Twelve year old Pete was on a hike across the Canadian Wilderness with his two brothers, ten year old Nigel and fourteen year old Harry. The hike was called the West Coast Trail. The West Coast Trail is a 75 kilometre hike stretching from Port Renfrew in the South to Bamﬁeld in the North along the West Coast of Vancouver Island. They were planning on doing the hike in six days. The longest stretch was 16 kilometres and the shortest stretch was 9 kilometres. The hike would take them through a large forest, along a long coastline and across two rivers. One river would be crossed on foot. The other had a boat which you could use to cross in because the river was very deep. They would also have to go up a series of steep ladders and cross a long bridge. The trail has natural wonders like the Hole-in-the-wall, a natural sandstone arch carved by waves, the Tsusiat Falls at the mouth of the Tsusiat River, the Nitinat Lakes and Narrows and countless caves, creeks, coves, tidal pools and rocky headlands. The West Coast of Vancouver Island used to be populated by the Nuu-chah-nulth group long before European explorers arrived. Their population was estimated to be around 8000. Captain James Cook was the first European to encounter them in 1778 on an island just west of Vancouver Island. The area around the West Coast of Vancouver Island was notoriously known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific”. Over seventy ships have wrecked there. In 1906 the Canadian government created the West Coast Trail to save the lives of survivors of shipwrecks. The trail and cabins were maintained so that survivors could walk to safety. The three brothers had left Pachena Trail Head early that morning. Their aim was to get to the campsite before nightfall. If they were still hiking when it was dark they could be attacked by cougars who might mistake them for deer or wild boars. They also wouldn’t be able to find the campsite in the dark. The boys took a break in a small clearing and checked their backpacks. Pete’s backpack was yellow. Nigel’s backpack was red and Harry’s backpack was green. Inside each of their packs were: three sets of spare clothes, a map of the trail, six days worth of food, two large water bottles, bear spray, insect repellent, a first aid kit, purification tablets in case they ran out of water, some money in a waterproof bag because neither Port Renfrew or Bamfield had a bank, and a knife. Pete also had a mosquito net in his backpack. They hadn’t forgotten anything. They got back on their feet and strapped on their backpacks. Each pack probably weighed close to fifteen kilograms. It would be lighter after they had eaten some of the food. According to the map they had to walk thirteen kilometres on the first day. This was the hardest day because the terrain was the toughest in this area. There were many rocks and logs they had to hop over. It wasn’t hard to follow the trail. There was a well defined footpath which showed you which way to go. The route was also clearly signposted. There was very little chance of getting lost. The forest was extremely hard to walk through because there were many trees and drooping branches lying low on the ground making it hard to walk. The sun only barely managed to seep through the thick green branches. Some of the larger trees which the brothers had seen on the hike were the Arbutus, Black Cottonwood, Douglas fir, Mountain Hemlock, Sitka spruce, Western Hemlock and the Western Red Cedar. “Pete, pass the map please,” Harry ordered. “I think that we are close to the first campsite. There are lots of campfire remains and footprints in this area.” They could also smell freshly burnt wood. Pete gave Harry the crumply paper map of the trail. “Here, I can’t believe we have already walked thirteen kilometres. It’s not even four in the afternoon!” “I guess we are just good at walking through terrain like this,” Nigel suggested as he sat down on a large log. He immediately jumped up when a termite came out and bit him on the hand. He walked around searching for a safe place to sit but he didn’t find one. He decided to help Harry read the map and peered over his shoulder. “Yeah,” said Harry surveying the map. “According to the map and the compass we are at the first night’s camping area. It’s time to put up the tents.” Chapter 2 - The Camp The camp site was a large clearing. There were lots of Black Cottonwood and Douglas Fir looming over the area. One of the Douglas Firs was over sixty five metres tall. The ground was littered with fresh pine needles. In a few minutes the boys shoes were covered in sap from the broken pine needles. Harry opened his backpack and pulled out the Camp Dome 300 tent. The blue tent could easily fit three people. They pulled out the poles and started fitting them together. The tent was not complicated; they put it up in a few minutes. Pete moved over to the centre of the campsite. He picked up a few stones and placed them in a circle to form a fireplace. “Guys, we need to get some firewood so that we can make a fire and cook our food,” Pete told the others. “Do you want me to go and fetch some?” asked Nigel. “It won’t take long. There is a lot of wood lying around.” “Yes.” agreed Pete. Nigel went off to collect the firewood. He knew that he needed three different types of wood; tinder, kindling and logs. The tinder would be used to get the fire going, the kindling would help it grow and the large logs would act as fuel for the fire. Pete was looking through his backpack to find what they should eat for supper. There was plenty to choose from. They had ham, rolls, sausages, bacon, biscuits, chips and granola bars. By the time Nigel returned with a large armful of wood Pete had selected sausages on rolls for supper and some granola bars afterwards. “Here is the wood you needed for the fire,” Nigel told the others. Harry took the wood and started to build a small tepee of tinder and kindling. He searched his backpack for some matches. When he found them he struck the match and the tinder burst into flames. After a few minutes Harry placed the larger logs on top. Pete took the grill from Nigel’s backpack and checked that it was clean. He made a platform of stones and placed the grill on top of the fire. He put the sausages on the grill to cook. “The sausages will take about half an hour to cook,” said Pete. “While Pete is cooking the sausages lets go exploring,” suggested Nigel. “I really want to go and look at some of these huge trees.” Harry agreed and they walked into the deep forest. They looked at many large trees but none were taller than the Douglas fir next to their campsite. They were about to turn back when they saw two squirrels. One was running away with an acorn and the other one was chasing him. They met on a branch and jumped at each other and fought with lots of noise. The fighting only stopped when the acorn fell off the branch. A third squirrel appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the acorn and ran into a bush. “Let’s look around for a while, we might find some more animals,” Nigel said. Harry agreed so they walked deeper into the bush. They were very quiet so that they didn’t scare any of the wildlife away. They hid behind a bush and waited to see if an animal came past. They had been sitting there for five minutes when all of a sudden a huge wild boar came charging out of the bushes and ran straight past them and disappeared into the bushes opposite them. “That was close!” exclaimed Harry. “If we got hit by that we would have been gouged and surely killed. Let’s head back to the campsite.” Harry told Nigel. “The sausages must be done by now.” They ran back to the camp. They were still a few hundred metres away and they could smell the delicious sausages. When they got there they saw Pete sitting on a rock munching on a roll. Nigel and Harry quickly used the tongs to put their sausages in the coney rolls and started eating them. Harry exclaimed, “Unfortunately we forgot the tomato sauce. They would have tasted twice as good! But I am starving after that long hike. They are pretty delicious without the tom sauce.”